Top 5 reasons companies choose an Employer of Record (EOR) in the Caucasus region
- Gegidze • გეგიძე | Marketing
- 5 days ago
- 7 min read
Table of contents:
Intro
Your next best hire could be sipping coffee in Tbilisi right now.
Or debugging code from a balcony in Yerevan.
Or closing a deal over tea in Baku.
The Caucasus, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan have quietly built one of the most skilled, cost-efficient, and stable hiring markets in Eurasia. Yet, for most global companies, it’s still flying under the radar.
And that’s a missed opportunity.
The region offers what hiring managers dream about:
Deep technical and multilingual talent
Competitive salary levels without sacrificing quality
Governments are actively investing in tech and infrastructure
Strategic access to both European and Asian markets
Workforce loyalty you won’t find in high-churn hubs
So why isn’t everyone hiring here?
Because setting up a legal entity in three different countries to tap the whole region can be slow, costly, and complicated.
That’s where an Employer of Record in the Caucasus changes the game, letting you hire across the Caucasus in days, fully compliant, without touching entity paperwork.
In the next 5 sections, we’ll break down exactly why the Caucasus should be on your 2025 hiring map, and how to make it happen without the headaches.
1. Highly skilled and cost-effective talent pool
The Caucasus isn’t just a scenic mountain range; it’s one of the most underestimated hiring markets in Eurasia. Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan each bring distinct strengths to the table, and when combined, they create a powerhouse talent ecosystem that can compete with established tech hubs at a fraction of the cost.
A deep bench of technical and business expertise
Georgia – A thriving IT park ecosystem, government-backed digital transformation programs, and an active startup scene. Strong in software engineering, fintech, gaming, and cybersecurity.
Armenia – Consistently ranks among the region’s top software exporters. Known for AI, data science, product management, and advanced engineering capabilities.
Azerbaijan – A logistics and trade hub leveraging its Middle Corridor position. Strong pool of multilingual professionals in supply chain, international trade, and customer operations.
Multilingual and globally experienced workforce
English proficiency is steadily improving across the region, with Russian widely spoken as a secondary language. Many professionals have worked for EU or US-based companies, meaning they’re already comfortable with agile workflows, async communication tools, and international reporting standards.
Competitive costs without compromising quality
Hiring mid- to senior-level professionals in the Caucasus can cost 40–60% less than equivalent roles in Western Europe or the US. Lower labor costs aren’t the result of lower quality; they’re due to favorable living costs, tax regimes, and market rates. This lets you scale faster while keeping budgets lean.
Why EOR makes this advantage even bigger
Normally, to hire across three countries, you’d need to set up multiple entities, each with its own legal, tax, and payroll complexities. An Employer of Record (EOR) lets you hire in any Caucasus country in days, not months, with:
Fully compliant contracts
Local payroll and benefits handled
Zero risk of misclassification or labor law violations
2. Robust economic growth and strategic government support
The Caucasus region isn’t riding on hype; it’s running on measurable, sustained growth. Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan are all clocking 4–6% annual GDP growth in the near term, even as many developed economies struggle to hit half that pace. This stability gives companies confidence to make long-term hiring commitments instead of short-term experiments.
Pro-growth reforms and business incentives
Governments in all three countries are actively courting international business:
Tax incentives for tech companies, exporters, and R&D firms, in some cases, are dropping corporate tax rates to 0% for qualifying activities.
Startup and innovation programs that offer grants, training, and investor matchmaking.
Simplified company registration processes that slash bureaucratic wait times.
These aren’t abstract policies; they’re practical measures designed to make it easier and cheaper to operate, hire, and expand in the region.
Strategic investments in infrastructure and skills
From fiber broadband rollouts and 5G trials to modernized airports, ports, and rail connections, the region is investing in connectivity that benefits both trade and remote work. Education systems are also pivoting toward STEM disciplines, with coding bootcamps, university-industry partnerships, and vocational programs producing graduates ready for high-skill roles.
Why this matters for your hiring strategy
A stable, reform-minded economic environment reduces the risk of sudden policy shifts that could impact your team or operations. When you combine a growth market with a talent pool that’s getting sharper by the year, you’ve got the perfect setup for building a regional hub.
EOR advantage: Capture the upside without the setup
With a legal and compliance checklist for EOR in the Caucasus, you can hire across Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan immediately, and still benefit from local incentives without committing time and capital to open a legal entity in each country. It’s the fastest, lowest-risk way to tap into a growth market.
3. Geographic and market connectivity advantage
The Caucasus isn’t just “somewhere between Europe and Asia”, it’s the bridge between them. Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan sit at the crossroads of two continents, making the region a natural hub for companies that need to serve multiple markets without scattering their teams across several time zones.
Built-in logistics advantages
Black Sea ports in Georgia connect to EU trade routes in days, not weeks.
Regional rail corridors link to Turkey, Central Asia, and the Middle East, ideal for goods and people.
Modernized airports in Tbilisi, Baku, and Yerevan offer direct flights to major European and Gulf cities, cutting travel times for executives and clients.
This isn’t just an import/export advantage. It’s about giving your team faster access to customers, partners, and regional offices.
Perfect location for regional team hubs
The Caucasus is emerging as a base for shared service centers, customer support hubs, and R&D teams that cover multiple markets from a single location. Lower operating costs, combined with multilingual talent, mean you can centralize operations here and still serve clients in London, Dubai, and Istanbul, all within a few hours’ flight.
Why this matters for hiring
Location affects more than shipping routes; it influences talent retention, client accessibility, and operational agility. In a world where companies are consolidating resources and cutting unnecessary overhead, a centrally located team can be a competitive advantage.
EOR advantage: Expand regionally without the entity headache
There is a fair question: EOR vs setting up your own entity in the Caucasus
With an Employer of Record (EOR), you can test operations in Georgia, Armenia, or Azerbaijan, or all three, without setting up separate legal entities. Hire in days, manage from anywhere, and scale to additional markets as you go.
4. Strong remote work culture and low workforce turnover
If you think hiring in the Caucasus means training people from scratch on remote work, think again. Professionals here have been working with international companies for years, long before “Zoom fatigue” became a global phrase.
Seasoned in remote-first environments
Many Georgian, Armenian, and Azerbaijani professionals have built their careers in distributed teams, whether for global startups, outsourcing firms, or multinational clients. They know how to handle asynchronous communication, navigate multiple time zones, and deliver without the handholding often required in less experienced markets.
Fluent in the global workflow
The region’s talent is fluent not just in English, but in the language of modern work:
Slack, Jira, Notion, and Trello for project management.
Agile and Scrum for development cycles.
Cloud-based collaboration for design, code, and operations.
That means onboarding is faster, ramp-up time is shorter, and your team starts delivering value almost immediately.
Loyalty that beats the big hubs
In major tech markets, keeping a developer for more than 18 months feels like winning the lottery. In the Caucasus, attrition rates are far lower, partly because the talent market is less oversaturated, and partly because professionals value stable, well-paying international contracts. For you, that means less churn, lower recruitment costs, and consistent knowledge retention.
EOR advantage: Stability from day one
Through an Employer of Record (EOR), you can hire these seasoned professionals without worrying about compliance, payroll, or benefits. You get all the retention benefits of local contracts, plus the flexibility to scale your team as your projects evolve.
5. Improving labor market conditions and wage growth
The Caucasus labor market is getting stronger, and that’s exactly what you want when building reliable teams.
Unemployment is trending down
In Georgia, unemployment dropped from 16.4% in 2023 to 13.9% in 2024. Armenia and Azerbaijan show similar progress, driven by expanding tech sectors, foreign investment, and the rise of exportable services. A healthier labor market means more professionals are developing skills you can actually hire for.
Wages are rising in the right way
Yes, salaries are going up. But not at a rate that kills the cost advantage over Western Europe or the US. Instead, the wage growth is keeping talent motivated to stay in their roles and invest in their own skills, a win for retention and performance.
Remote work is reversing brain drain
Historically, top talent in the Caucasus left for higher-paying jobs abroad. Now, with competitive international salaries offered remotely, more skilled professionals are staying local. That means you can hire people who combine deep local market knowledge with global work experience.
EOR advantage: Compliance and motivation, built in
An Employer of Record (EOR) locks in these benefits for you:
Fully compliant local contracts
Payroll handled in-country
Benefits that meet or exceed local standards
You get motivated, stable, and locally based professionals without the complexity of setting up an entity.
Conclusion
The Caucasus isn’t just an emerging market; it’s a strategic hiring powerhouse. Here’s why:
A highly skilled, cost-effective talent pool in tech, engineering, product, and creative fields.
Robust economic growth backed by government reforms and incentives.
A geographic sweet spot that connects Europe and Asia.
A remote work culture that delivers stable, low-turnover teams.
Improving labor markets with wage growth that keeps talent motivated while keeping your costs competitive.
You could spend months (and a small fortune) setting up entities in Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan, or you could start hiring in days with zero compliance risk.
With Team Up’s Employer of Record (EOR) service, you get:
Instant access to vetted professionals across the region
Fully compliant contracts and payroll in-country
The freedom to scale up or down without legal headaches